WordPress Multisite Demystified

In this article, I’m going to cover a topic that doesn’t get a lot of love – WordPress multisite.

I recently attended a session at a WordPress Meetup where the presenters shared their experiences with multisite. A special mention goes to Dee Teal (@thewebprincess) and James Bundey (@jamesbundey) who presented on this topic, which has inspired this article.

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I’ll provide an overview below on what WordPress multisite is, some examples of websites that currently use it, as well as some useful plugins and resources to get you started.

What Is WordPress Multisite

Multisite is described on the WordPress Codex as “very similar to your own personal version of WordPress.com”. It allows you to create a network of sites that share a single installation. You’ll also hear multisite referred to as a WordPress Network.

Who Uses Multisite

WordPress multisite is used by some very large sites, the biggest being WordPress.com which hosts millions of sites. It doesn’t get much bigger than that. Other popular sites include the BBC US (each show has a subsite), Reuters blogs, the New York Times blogs, as well as a large number of university sites.

The Key Difference

Multisite is ideal when you want to share users across a network of sites. Sharing users has a few implications, mostly surrounding security and access control. For example, if you want users for one site to have file system access, they’ll have access to the whole site which includes all other sites. Under the hood, the WordPress tables are separate for each site, with the important exception of the user table.

If you’re just after sites that look a little different, you can achieve quite a lot without going down the path of multisite by using Categories, Tags, Custom Post Types and different templates.

Plugin Compatibility

A few years ago, plugin compatibility was a common limitation when working with multisite. It’s come a long way since then, but it’s still worth checking before you start a project if your required plugins support multisite. Occasionally you’ll find some plugins that aren’t supported on multisite installations.

WordPress Multisite Plugins

Here’s a list of some plugins you might find handy if you’re already using multisite, or decide to one day:

Active Installs: 20,000+Rating: 4.4 out of 5 starsDescription: This plugin for multisite, features a myriad of security features including blocking brute force attacks, requiring strong passwords, login monitoring and notifying the admin of security issues.

Active Installs: 2,000+Rating: 4.5 out of 5 starsDescription: Mail deliverability can be a big problem and an administration headache. This plugin provides multisite users with a dashboard that displays unactivated WordPress user registrations and helps you to easily manage them.

Active Installs: 1,000+Rating: 4.9 out of 5 starsDescription: Looking to duplicate a site on your multisite installation? This plugin has got you covered, allowing you to clone any site on your WordPress multisite network which includes the data, files and users.

Active Installs: 400+Rating: 4.1 out of 5 starsDescription: This plugin helps you to avoid having to manually add users to each of your blogs or sites on a multisite network. It gives you the ability to assign a role for the user on each site.

Active Installs: 200+Rating: 5 out of 5 starsDescription: This one is pretty self explanatory, easily copy a blog post, page or custom post type from one of your blogs or sites to another in your network.

Chris isn't afraid to admit it: he's a geek from way back, having worked in IT for more than 20 years. He co-founded a digital agency called Clickify, working with a great team of developers and marketers, and is also the WordPress Editor for SitePoint. Chris is passionate about keeping up-to-date with the latest web technologies and can be found at many of the tech events in Melbourne, Australia. For more details, check out his personal site at chrisburgess.com.au.